1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat exchangers and more particularly to helical wound tubing heat exchangers and methods of making such exchangers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heat exchangers known and used for transferring heat energy from one medium to another sometimes consist of an array of tubes positioned within a housing. A medium to be heated and a medium giving up the heat are on opposite sides of the flow restricting paths. Oftentimes the flow through the tubes is split such that the tubes form a plurality of independent paths through the interior of the heat exchanging unit with each tube making one or more passes through the heat exchanging zone. Many of these prior heat exchangers are relatively inefficient in transferring heat energy from one medium to another because of an insufficient amount of surface area presented to the heated medium or else require an extraordinary amount of space in order to achieve efficient levels of heat transfer.